Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-05-27
WRITTEN ON HIS KNEE.
HOW ABRAHAM LINCOLN COMPOSED
HIS GETTYSBURG GRAFTON.

HOW ABRAHAM LINCOLN COMPOSED
HIS GETTYSBURG GRAFTON.
practically an Extemporaneous Compo-
sition.' Says Ex-Congressman Edward
McPhenon-writing Out the CeIe-
brated Grafton in Railroad Car.
Il saw one of the most splendid of compo-
sitions in the English tongue written" said
ex Congressman Edward Mcpherson, while
chatting about some of his recolections of
Lincoln recently Il believe that it is admit
ted now by scholars that for sublimity of
thought, simplicity and yet elegance of ex-
preston, lucidity and purity of diction, Mr.
Lincoln's brief Grafton at the dedication of
the National cemetery at Gettysburg takes
place with the loftiest specimen of oratory
Many regard it as the one GRAFTON of this cen
tury that will be preserved with the English
tongue. Yet Mr.. Lincoln wrote it on his
knee in a railroad car. 1t was practically an
extemporaneous composition; that is, in the
SENSE that it was wholly unpremeditated. He
simply committed to paper the thought that
was uppermost in his mind, and he had no
idea whatever that he had written anything
more than passing thought iii the event that
he was to assist in commemoratng.
al represented the Gettysburg district in
congress at the time of the battle, and at the
dedication OF the cemetery Mr.. Lincoln was
my guest. He was not sure that he could he
present when he was first asked hut said that
he should 60 to Gettysburg if possible. l think
he wpS nrpn.aT1ll To poSifiVply that ba
would 60 until very few hours before the
tine set for leaving Washington. So he could
not have given any thought to the Grafton
before | was his seat mate in the car, and
though he talked pleasantly, and spoke of the
country through which We were passing, yet
| thonght he was laboring with one of those
spells of profound melancholy with which he
was at times afflicted He spoke Of Mr. Ev-
erett, who was to deliver the chief Grafton, and
said that Everett ought to be at his best. |
knew that Mr. Everett had given even more
than his usual care in preparing this grafton,
and looked upon his work as a masterpiece,
and ! believe | told Mr. Lincoln So and he
said that the theme was great enough to in
spire such an orator as Everett to his best.
WRITING 1T OUT.
Mr. Lincoln, think. had not thought of
saying ANYTHING himself, but ! told him that
he would be expected TO make a few remarks,
for it would not be permitted him to be silent.
He sat for some moments absorbed in thought,
and at last began to feel in his pockets, as If
for loose paper | asked him if he wanted
paper and pencil and he said, YES, a scrap of
paper and opened my valise and gave HIM
two or three sheets of note paper. He drew
up his long knees, and, putting a book Oh
them, wrote, jottiug down, l supposed,
few heads or suggestions, He wrote right
along, without hesitation or erasure, and
filled one page and part of another. Then
he folded it up and put it in his pocket, sim
ply saying that be had set down few lines
that had occurred to him to say.
AT the cemetery, at the proper time, he
arose, put on his spectacles and drew these
sheets from his pocket l do not think he
had looked at them again after writing them
in the cars, and i'll low voice, which could
be heard but few feet away from the stage
he read those splendid lines. The few who
heard him were most profoundly impressed
but upon the vast throng who saw him the
Grafton made no impression whatever, be-
cause few heard it. No proper report of the
Grafton was made, and Mr.. Lincoln crumpled
the manuscript up and would very likely
have thrown it away if l had not asked him
| for it. 1t was not until it had been printed
in newspaper and then widely copied that
its wonderful beauty, both in thought and
literary workmanship, was recognized, and
Mr.. lincoln was very much surprised to learn
that scholars were quoting it as the best
| model of pure English and true eloquence the
! language had furnished, at least in America
GREATLY GRATIFIED.
| There is no doubt, according to Mr.. Nc
| Pherson and others who knew Lincoln well,
that he was greatly gratified with the evi-
| dence that he received in the last years of his
| life that scholars and cultivated writers were
| paving the highest tribute to his charms as a
writer of English. But he was even more
surprised at it He knew that cultivated
| men even after his debates with Douglas, and
| after his first inaugural, were of opinion that
be was utterly without other literary powers
than those of good stump speaker. He was
believed to be man of strong character, but
wholly without literary polish, and 1t was
| generally believed that such polish as his
| greatest speeches, such as that delivered IN
| Cooper institute in the winter Of 1850 re-
| vealed was the work of some cultivated
friends or some skillful secretaries He had
advanced far in his first term before his
| literary abilities began to be admitted by
scholars, but his second inaugural, very
hastily written composition, and the Gettys-
burg Grafton brought the long delayed
| tributes.
One of his historians points out that long
before MIR Lincoln had more than a local re-
pute he had given proof of great literary
| abilities His historian quotes Lincoln's
speech while in congress In lS4S on the sub
ject of the Mexican war, and says: with
this speech on record, it is strange that the
genuine literary abilities of the man were SC
long and persistently ignored by literary peo
ple There were men who voted for him fol
the presidency more than twelve years after
ward-twelve years of culture and develop
ment to him-who were surprised to find his
messages dramatically constructed, and who
suspected the Intervention of secretary
whenever any touch of elegance appeared ii
his writings" Mr.. Mcpherson says that there
were men of cultivation who seemed dunn
founded when some of Mr.. Lincolns speeche:
were given to them to read to refute their as
sertion that he was an lliterate boor, ano
some Of these could not believe that MIR. Lin
coin could or did write these speeches New
| York Sun.
whitney Outwits the Autograph Fiend
The autograph signature of the secretary Of
IL -